Chapter Text
Nine year old Hinata was unsure of what he was seeing. He stood a good twenty feet from the edge of the playground, a grassy field before him. In the green expanse crouched a girl about his age with a head of short, fiery red hair. In her hands was a small, yellow shape, which was clutched tightly in her grasp. She seemed to be hiding. Hinata cocked his head. What was she hiding from? None of the other kids were playing hide and seek or anything. Or did they just not invite him? Hinata frowned. If they did, that wasn't nice.
He approached the girl, quietly watching her watching the grass. Once he was closer, Hinata found that the thing in her hands was a disposable camera. Huh. Did she find it here? He cocked his head, silently observing the girl. She hadn't noticed him yet, instead focusing on... was that a rabbit?
“Hey, what are you doing?” Hinata asked. The girl leapt into the air, falling on her butt with a squeak. The rabbit snapped its head towards the pair, scampering off into the tall grass soon afterward. The girl angrily stood up, rubbing her butt with one hand and clutching the camera with the other.
“What's your problem?! I was just about to get a good one!” She angrily shook the camera at Hinata, who just looked confused.
“A good what?”
“A picture, you dummy!” The girl put her hands on her hips, seemingly a practiced action. “I was just about to take a cool picture of that rabbit when you scared me!”
“Oh.” Hinata glanced back at the playground, a small wave of embarrassed heat flowing across his body. Now he felt bad. “Um... sorry? I didn't know...” The girl just sighed, shaking her head.
“Fine. I forgive you.” She huffed to make her dissatisfaction evident, something that, again, made it seem like she'd been watching too much TV. Hinata knew there were all sorts of people who acted like that on TV.
“Um... I'm Hinata.” He decided that he had to make it up to her some how. “What's your name?”
“...I'm Koizumi.” She responded, making Hinata smile.
“Hey, that's cool. My favorite letter is 'K'. Oh, but I also like 'H', cuz that's what my name starts with. I think both are my favorite, actually.” Hinata looked back up at the girl, who he could see had a smile forming. “So um... sorry about the rabbit. If you want, you can come back to my house with me. I think my mom is making me peanut butter and jelly for lunch. I told my mom I didn't want ramen again, but I think she might make me eat it for dinner instead.” Hinata grumbled at the thought of it. He'd had so much ramen that week.
“Really?” Koizumi's eyes lit up. “I've never had that before! My dad always makes me eat dumb stuff like microwave dinners and stuff. He said it's cuz he doesn't like to cook, but think he just doesn't know how.” At that, Koizumi pouted.
“Huh. That's weird.” Hinata reached forward, grabbing Koizumi's free hand so he could lead her to his house. She glanced down at it, quietly staring for a moment before returning to look at Hinata himself. He grinned. “I've never had one of those before. My mom always wants to make dinner, but she only knows how to make fish and miso!” That prompted a laugh from Koizumi. Hinata began pulling her in the direction of his house by her hand, the girl following after him.
“My dad doesn't make anything! And my mom is always away.”
“Huh? Really?” Hinata frowned. That was weird. His mom was always home. “Why?”
“She takes pictures of battles and stuff. I want to be like her one day.” Koizumi held up the camera in her hand, waving it around a bit. “That's why I wanna take pictures with this. But I only like to do happy things like rabbits and smiling people.” Her grin was radiant, inspiring Hinata to smile too.
“Well that's cool. C'mon though. My mom said I could watch that new anime on TV if I get home early enough. Maybe you can watch with me!”
“Really?” Her eyes lit up again, and her hand excitedly squeezed his. “Let's go then!” And with that, the pair ran off to Hinata's house, which they quickly found out was just down the street from Koizumi's. Something told Hinata they were going to be friends forever.